


this place is warm without a care

by meanderingsoul



Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta Hope Van Dyne, Beta Scott Lang, Beta in heat, Beta/Beta, Consensual Sex, Desperation, F/M, Family Planning Conversations, Luis is a Good Bro, Marathon Sex, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Naked Cuddling, Overstimulation, Pegging, Pregnancy Fantasy, Rimming, Scenting, Showers, Sleepy Sex, Sweet/Hot, Switching, Trying something new, Wet & Messy, but not really, gratitude
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-06 19:09:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15892269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meanderingsoul/pseuds/meanderingsoul
Summary: Hope was quiet for probably a minute, but it felt longer. “...but you don’t want me to come over?” she said, sounding confused.Scott's heart might have actually skipped a beat. He blurted out, “You would?!”





	this place is warm without a care

**Author's Note:**

> When I write a/b/o I'm writing in a world with six, distinct human sexes and all the complicated social interactions that go along with that. Betas are not written here as default humans who just know about alphas and omegas. If you want the detailed rant about how and why I write betas this way, it is in the endnotes. It's definitely a rant folks. You probably want the fic first.
> 
> Title is of course from Sugar Ray. I hope you enjoy the story.

 

Scott hadn’t been able to get enough to drink last night, woke up twice to gulp down tap water in the dark, but it hadn’t really clicked what was up until about the time he woke up to Luis clattering around in their kitchen.

He still didn’t clue in until he shifted his legs and felt the sticky slide, how hard he was, the ache deep in his belly.

 _Shit_.

His timing had been all over the place since he went off the prison suppressants. He’d meant to go back on something a little milder at some point, but that stuff was pricey without insurance and he hadn’t been _doing_ anything so what was the point. Then there'd been the whole house arrest thing and there had _really_ been no point. It was too much just to save himself less than a week of inconvenient days a year.

“Ey Scotty, you up? Want some eggs?”

The thought of eggs almost made him gag. He hadn’t eaten anything yesterday, had he? Shit, how had he not _noticed_?

“No thanks. Hey Luis?"

“Yeah man?"

“Do me a favor and stay with Kurt and Dave tonight.”

“Hot date Scotty?”

“Something like that.”

Luis had figured it out of course, but he was nice enough not to make Scott say it. They’d lived together about four years if you counted prison. They knew how not to step all over each other’s business.

Usually.

Ok, kind of.

Scott waited, holding himself carefully still and shivering under the fan, waited for Luis to head out to work before he dug his only toy out of its sock and slunk out to the bathroom to wash it.

One of those sickening little belly cramps rolled through him, the kind you got for not moving fast enough, and he gritted his teeth through it. His hands shook washing the toy off quickly. It was purple because purple had been on sale, about as thick as he was with enough of a knot bulging towards the base he could feel it.

It wasn’t what he _wanted_ , but it did the trick.

Scott barely managed to lock his door behind him, flopped knees then shoulders forwards onto his bed, boxers shoved around his shins. He only rolled his hips back against the tip of the toy for a moment, feeling how slick he already was with a shudder, before he shoved it _inside_ in one long slide.

Out of season that would have really hurt, but right now he howled into the mattress it was _so good_.

He didn’t even try to line it up right, to open up that space inside that was only ready for it these couple days, just fucked into himself, fisted his cock too roughly for this soon in the whole game.

If he kept this up he was going to hate _everything_ by tomorrow evening, but right now it was just too good to stop, squeezing tight over where his knot was swelling after every stroke. Another squirm forced the knot of the toy inside himself and he moaned, feeling the first hard spurt hit his belly.

Orgasm was different during heat, when your body was ready to tie and didn’t care if you would really rather just go make some spaghetti or take a nap. Scott could feel himself blinking, might have heard some strangled sounds, but it was far away. Flickers of sound and grey sheets, his whole body focused on how it locked around the toy inside him, his hand clamped down around the base of his cock, everything almost too intense to call pleasure.

Scott blinked back aware lying in the wet spot minutes later, his body still clutched tight around the dildo and still mostly hard. Damn. That had been fast.

His head felt fuzzy. Maybe a shower would take the edge off? He was lucky as far seasons went. His never lasted more than two days. Two and a half was pretty typical and even three was still common. Omegas had it at least three days, usually longer, and it was supposed to be more intense. Scott was never sure how you didn’t just _die_ if that was really how it felt. Some betas it was more like a day, which was great unless you were trying to make it catch, to have a baby...

He’d better not think about that.

The cool water made him flinch, but he stood under it anyway, only drank a little of the spray. Gulping shower water always felt like being younger, lonely and desperate in a more unnatural way. He tried to breath slow and even, let the water cool his face.

Nope, the shower totally made everything worse.

Because now he was thinking about the last time Hope had stayed the night, rinsing off in the morning with her wet arms around him, her breasts against his back. The way she nuzzled between his shoulders when she hugged him from behind like that. How well their hips lined up standing…

Scott turned the water off with a groan and sprawled out in the tub, one leg flopped out over the side out of old habit while he fisted himself with both hands too fast and too hard again, trying not to say her name like this, when it was mostly just heat.

He blinked back aware and thudded his head against the tile once, sticky across his belly and thighs. Shit, that one was longer.

Scott rinsed off in the hot water, because why bother being uncomfortable if it wasn’t going to clear his head? He slunk downstairs for whatever kind of sports drink it was Luis had bought last time, still half-hard and really not appreciating having boxers on. But, someone could barge in and that would be worse.

Now that he’d started thinking about Hope he couldn’t stop.

Things were good right now, really good again, just like two years ago except Hope had her Mom back and it turned out Hank could actually smile and Hope and Cassie got along like she’d known her for years. Technically the Pym-van-Dyne's were still wanted, but still. Things were great.

Right now though he kept picturing how perfect the soft handfuls of her breasts felt, or that shallow groove in the muscles of her abs that he liked to lick, how her hipbones felt against his palms, the way her hair smelled, especially now it was so much longer…

His thighs were wet. Already. Scott lurched back upstairs and flopped into bed, fumbling for the toy.

Now all he wanted to picture was what Hope’s cock might be like when she was in heat, if he might get to see it soon, if it was similar to his or not, how they’d look pressed together. He’d only felt it snug to her body, the tip flushed pink against his tongue, but not hard.

He thrust the toy roughly, pretended it was her cock for just a moment.

Scott blinked back aware flat on his back and still shaking. Fuck. _Fuck_. That was…

He sucked in a deep breath, then another, scrubbed a damp hand over his hot face even though it was kind of gross. He wasn’t squirming for another round yet, clear-headed for a little while, maybe enough to get a nap. He wouldn’t get much sleep tonight.

He might have actually slept a little, maybe dozed for an hour before his phone buzzed. Not like it just vibrated on the table, it actually played a buzz, the thrumming sound of insect wings. He’d downloaded it weeks ago.

Hope didn’t know she was in his phone as _lovebug <3_. Using her name seemed risky, no need to just hand stuff to Woo, still rightfully suspicious, but he really doubted she’d like the code name.

_Are you home?_

Shit. Shit, they hadn’t talked about this. At all. She couldn’t just come over.

_Yes but I’m kinda in the middle of something._

_I could come by later?_

He always felt warm and maybe even fuzzy when she wanted to see him, especially when she wanted to come over when it was likely they’d just sleep, which she only did if she’d had a busy day and wanted to be held, something she’d never ever been able to just ask him for.

But if she came over here today he wasn’t going to be able to just cuddle her to sleep while she talked about the research he could just barely follow every second word of.

_I’m not good company today Hope._

_Scott is something wrong._

_Not wrong exactly. Just inconvenient._

Now his phone pinged obnoxiously loud. Shit, she was calling him.

He really had to answer it, didn’t he.

“Hope,” he said, but it came out breathy and kind of like pleading and definitely didn’t sound like he was just saying hi. Damn.

“Are you ok? You sound weird.”

“I’m…sick?”

He could hear the judgmental eyebrow through the phone. “Wow. That was convincing.”

He didn’t realize he was touching himself to her voice until a breathy little sound came out of his mouth and he startled bad enough he dropped the phone next to his face.

“Scott? Scott what are you…”

Her voice sounded tinny, but it was easier to wriggle sideways and set his face on his phone than to try and pick it back up. “It’s my time of the year if you get my drift Hope.” It was getting harder to talk more worked up he got, and he could hear her breathing so that was happening pretty fast.

Hope was quiet for probably a minute, but it felt longer. “...but you don’t want me to come over?” she said, sounding confused.

His heart might have actually skipped a beat. He blurted out, “You would?!”

She was quiet for a bit again. “We’ll talk when I’m there. I think you’re _distracted_  right now,” she teased. “Give me 20 minutes.”

“Hope, I…” but she’d hung up already.

Scott dropped the phone back on the table and groaned, squirming over and grinding into the tangled sheets, one fist tugging harshly at his hair to try and just _think_ for a minute.

She definitely wasn’t in her season. She was probably on some kind of suppressants. Of course she would be. Hope kept all her shit squared away. Without the higher levels of energy heat gave you, putting up with it was exhausting, and by the end of one you were exhausted and annoyed anyways. It just wasn’t the same. It never felt fair.

But, if she really meant it he’d let her do whatever she wanted with him. Anything. Anything was going to be better than riding it out by himself again. He’d had _no idea_ how hard it would be going back to being alone during heats. The first one he’d cried so much he’d annoyed _himself_ half to death. Even if she just stayed a few hours because he wouldn’t be able to let her sleep…

Scott flailed up to balance half on his shoulder and sank two fingers inside himself with a moan. Hope had such pretty fingers. Maybe she’d…

Or maybe she’d let him hide his face between her thighs for a while. If he could just drink her down while he fucked himself that would be so good. Or even if she’d just hold him for a while. If she’d just _touch_ him. He could fuck himself if she’d just let him lean against her skin, let him smell her.

If she really was down for it, he could probably take it if she fisted him…

That thought was enough to push him over the edge, falling heavily onto his side with a weird, growling cry that wasn’t like him at all, only instinct having him clutch his hand tight around his knot for those brainless, long minutes of aftershock.

He blinked back aware and his t-shirt was wet, arms shaky. He still wasn’t less than half hard.

Hope would probably be here in less than ten minutes.

Oh fuck.

*

Hope landed in the little yard, or really that maybe six-foot strip of weeds and gravel that Luis and Scott insisted on calling a “yard”. She flew here when she visited Scott now. It was hard to keep surveillance on someone the size of a bug.

They always left their porch light off for her these days.

But today it was just barely evening. She expanded herself back to normal size with a click. At least the fence was pretty solid. Normally she wouldn’t do this until they were inside, but she wasn’t going to invite herself for a ride inside on Scott's shoulder or in a pocket tonight, not when he was like this.

Scott opened the door halfway and peered out at her. She caught a glimpse of one slim, bare calf around the scuffed wood.

“Scott?”

“Mm?” He was sweaty, his cheeks were flushed, eyes glassy and fixed on her.

“Hi?” He was so obviously at the peak of this it made her chest ache. That longing on his face was so similar to the first time they’d had sex, when she’d been too nervous to grab for him because this was the first time sex had ever _mattered_ and his hands shook when he touched her. Right now that look on his face was just, hungrier.

She wanted to wrap both arms around the long lines of his waist like she’d done their first kiss.

Scott finally blinked and swallowed, coming up out of it a little bit. “Hope. You don’t… you don’t have to come in.” His hands were white-knuckled around the edge of the door.

“I know I don’t have to and it’s not like you could make me. I’m trying to figure out if you _want_ me to come in.”

He hadn’t been planning to tell her he was in heat at all. If she hadn’t called him she wouldn’t have even known. Did he just not like company for heat? Or had he thought she’d be bothered by something about him like this?

She hadn’t been able to think of anything but more questions on the flight over. It was different on a fundamental level with her parents and by the time she’d been old enough to ask questions about alignment Mom was gone and Dad wasn’t someone she went to with those kinds of things anymore. And now it would just be too awkward.

“We never talked about… I don’t expect you to just drop everything and…”

Hope snorted. “You think I’m going to focus on anything knowing where you are and what you’re doing?” _Really Scott?_

He flushed a darker pink and not from the hormone fever. “I know this isn’t as um, fun for whoever’s off-cycle, especially when, if you’re on…”

He thought she was still on suppressants. He thought she couldn’t already smell him wanting her just from standing here in the yard, that he’d be feverish and she’d be blunted off from it.

But even on suppressants you weren’t in a _bubble_ or something. “I’m not. I got off schedule while we were on the run. And even if I was…” Hope startled forward when his knees almost buckled, but stopped before she touched him.

“Maybe you could. Maybe…”

“Scott?”

“Please. Please tie me. I wanna mmmmph.”

She was stunned watching him physically clamp his jaw shut. He wanted her to fuck him that much? _Oh Scott_ …

“Sorry. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to be sorry.” It wasn’t like Hope didn’t know exactly how it felt to be that desperate, to feel yourself gagging for it, rutting into the sheets, for nothing to just be _enough_ until it finally burned itself out. She was a beta too.

“Tell me if you want me to come inside Scott. I’ll leave if you tell me to. If you want privacy or you want company, either way we’re ok. Got it?” Scott thought about things in lists and lines, predictable patterns. Hope wasn't sure how else to make this easier.

Scott gulped, nodded to himself, and pushed open the door for her.

*

It was dim inside. Stuffy. Now she could _really_ smell him, held her expression carefully still while her head reeled. He always smelled _good_ but this was somehow the late summer version of that, overripe and juicy when bitten into, somehow singing out to her. She wasn’t even close to heat. How was this so good?

The twitch between her legs that accompanied the usual throb when sex with Scott was imminent told her this was going to work out _exactly_ how he wanted.

Scott waited near her, inches away and almost shaking. She didn’t touch him, not yet. If she started they wouldn’t stop and there were other things to take care of first.

Hope locked the door. “Is Luis out?”

It took Scott a moment to talk. “Yeah. He’ll stay with the guys tonight. I’ll be fine by tomorrow night.”

He followed as she walked into their cluttered kitchen, hands twisting at his bathrobe. Hope took a sports drink out of their fridge and pressed it against the back of his hand until Scott finally took it and drank, gulping desperately after the first swallow. Hope poured herself some water. With both hands up on the plastic bottle to steady it, she could see how hard he was.

She was already half peaked. The suit felt tight, her skin too thin underneath.

Every woman was different. It was common for beta women to not be able to get erect outside of heat, but far from impossible. Outside of heat, that part of her sex usually stayed tucked close in her folds, sensitive but mostly dormant unless she got _incredibly_ hot for it.

The smell of him in heat and the sight of him desperate for her touch was more than enough to do the trick.

“Should we go upstairs?” she asked. He had to invite her up. This had to start that way.

Scott nodded, back to wringing his hands in his bathrobe to keep them off of himself. She could tell he could smell her from how he was breathing, from the wide-eyed glances back that made him trip once.

Going up the stairs shifted his legs apart, enough for her to get a mouthful of that scent again. _Fuck_. Hope was going to lick that off his thighs before she ever took her leggings off.

Scott locked the door and pulled curtains over the battered blinds while she unfastened the suit, peeled it open and down over her tight t-shirt and leggings, laid it across the usual chair. When she was barefoot on his bedroom floor she took her hair down, shook it out. It would get hot, but he was really going to appreciate it.

Hope heard the wet sound of him licking his lips before she turned and pulled him close, pressed their hips together so he could feel her mostly hard, kissed him hungrily.

Scott moaned loud into her mouth, arms clutching around her shoulders and grinding closer into her belly. “Hope. Hope, you’re… Oh my God.”

He was so _warm_ , mouth so hot inside it seemed like it should scald her tongue. The press of his body against her hips was dizzying. “I can sometimes. You smell _amazing_ ,” she said, burying her face in his neck, taking a quick lick of the salt on his skin.

She gasped when his hand rubbed over the swell of her cock for the first time. Oh that was so sharp. It’d been _years_.

Scott’s warm forehead settled onto her shoulder to steady himself while he looked down. “Hi there.”

Hope was laughing when she pushed the fraying bathrobe off his shoulders, shoved him down onto his bed.

Pulling his half-soaked boxers off and her t-shirt over her head was a blur. They were kissing frantically on top of his tangled sheets, her hand on the familiar curve of his cock while she ground herself into his palm, leggings still on.

Scott pulled away from her mouth with a whine. “How. How close are you to… Do we need…?”

“Months. It’s too soon. Do you want me to use one?” It’d be weeks before there was even a chance her body was producing anything that could catch when she fucked him, but she’d wear something if he wanted her to.

“No! No, God no. Fill me _up_.”

He might have said something else, but he’d nuzzled in against the tops of her breasts. Hope was nice and unfastened the sports bra. It had a lot of little hooks; he’d never manage it today. Scott immediately took the tip of one in his mouth and sucked hard, his fingers tangling in her hair like she’d known they would. Hope sighed, cupped his head to her, thumb stroking behind his ear while all the tension melted out of her spine.

She’d normally have to expect a heat just before winter. But, if they had enough time together… She’d be late, closer to Scott’s next season.

Hope couldn’t figure out if she was more terrified of that whole idea or the fact that she’d given it any thought at all.

Hope pulled away from him to shuffle onto her knees between his calves, push his knees apart a little more and drag her tongue over a wet patch of slightly fuzzy inner thigh.

Scott made a thin moan at the touch, muscles jumping with tension not to pull away. Hope swallowed and sucked another damp kiss closer to the crease at his hip and thigh. Slippery on her tongue, a little brackish and a little sweet.

She sucked kisses up to the wet spot on his belly before her own impatience and his quiet pleas made her roll to the side and shove her leggings down, growling under her breath when they snagged around her ankles.

Her cock was a bit more slender than his, especially with his knot already a little swollen from the heat, a straighter shape where his curved up and was drooling slick on his belly.

Scott rolled onto his side and stared, hungry and warm and she watched his face taking her in. The idea that they’d be doing this… This morning it hadn’t even crossed her mind as a _someday_ yet.

He reached out for her. Hope whined at the intensity of someone else’s hand on her, of Scott’s fingers on thin stretched skin for the first time, shaky grasp tugging gently, trailing around and over the sensitive tip.

She pushed him away and quickly straddled him, braced her hands on his shoulders to keep him still and rolled her hips along his, rubbing their cocks past each other in an overheated slide. Scott choked around a loud sound, a hand flailing back to clutch her ass, nudge her to rock into him harder. The slight swell of his knot dragged along the underside of her.

Hope was so turned on some of the slickness on his belly had to be from her. Scott was almost panting. They couldn’t linger to just feel each other any longer.

Hope set her palms against his flushed chest. “You need to know I’ve never done this. At all, shared mine or anyone else’s.”

Scott just grinned up at her, the same silly smile he always flashed her way when he thought he was funny. Somehow it made everything that felt weird or sudden about this suddenly all ok, made her lean up to kiss him again.

“You’re gonna _love_ this,” he said, tugging at her with his knees.

“That so?”

“Sure hope so. You’ve been a fan so far,” he said, wriggling closer while she planted her knees apart on the mattress.

“Hmm.” It was a thoughtful sound, but a terrible lie. Scott was the best sex she’d ever had and definitely the most fun. And she’d told him most of that before despite herself.

Hope rubbed against his opening, felt him slick and the soft sound he made at the touch. She bit down on her bottom lip pushing into him in one slow thrust. She wasn’t really stretching him, not already warmed up like this, but Scott’s head fell back with a loud moan. Hope groaned low in her chest. He was _so_ silky-hot inside, clinging around her. Scott spread his legs a little more and she caught under his thighs, rocking into him deep, not trying to find the right angle for heat yet, just enjoying him for a minute, his body and his soft sounds of pleasure. She needed to.

Hope grinned at Scott even though his eyes were shut tight. “You’re right. I do love this.”

“You feel so good. Oh God Hope.” His hands clung around her hipbones.

It didn’t take her long to find what rhythm he liked, a quick even rolling of her hips. Her heart was racing, but her muscles could keep up with this as long as he needed her too. Scott was always noisy in bed, but he kept making these little shuddery sounds, stroking himself out of rhythm with her thrusts. Hope hitched one of his knees higher over her hip and kissed it, shifted her hips up until she found the right spot…

Scott let out a split-second _shriek_ when she slipped into that open little bend, slapped a hand over his mouth to stifle the loud moaning. Hope gasped. Somehow he was even tighter here, squeezing like a fist around her tip. She could feel it all over, as a shudder down her spine, the bit of resistance when she pushed into him now. Slick trailed down her thigh.

“Oh fuck, yes, yes, please Hope, please, give me one. Give one to me Hope…”

Scott looked a little relieved now that his body was getting what it wanted so bad, now that she was giving him what he needed, mouth open and shoulders going limp against the bed. His hands moved, but they stroked over his belly instead of his flushed cock, staring up at her with the warm look that always made her squirm somewhere inside.

“They’d be so pretty. I’d be so happy to Hope, you have no idea…”

“What are you talking about?” she panted.

He squirmed back into her hips, eyes closed, one hand fisted around the fabric and one pressed low on his stomach. “Just fucking come in me. I want to. Hope, _please_ …”

She finally took a hand off his hip to move one of his onto his wet cock. Scott gasped at the touch, curled his fingers around himself, but it was absentminded.

“It was my turn. It was _my turn_. I _wanted_ …”

It occurred to Hope in one of those out-of-place moments of clarity that Maggie carrying Cassie hadn’t been assumption because she was the female or even just happenstance, it’d been _planned_ , that there’d been _multiple_ plans. A lot more of Scott’s life had been derailed than his career and his marriage when he’d gotten caught.

“ _Oh_. Oh. You’re so sweet.” She leaned into him and held deep, curling close to kiss his chest, stroke his cheek.

Scott turned to nuzzle her fingers. “I want _yours_ ,” he said, half here and half in whatever feverish daydream he was talking about.

Hope ground into him for a few moments, staying close just feeling him, his toes curling against the back of her leg, his cock under her belly, knot swollen thick, how tight and soft he was inside. It wasn’t long thrusting into him quickly again before he gasped, and she gritted her teeth against the rush of pleasure at the first rippling squeeze of him around her cock. He was so close. Hope wanted to see this so much.

“Scott. Scott, look at me. Look at me,” and she had to hold his jaw to get him to focus on her. “I’ve never done this. Don’t let me hurt you.”

Scott just shook his head, braced a hand on the bed and rolled back into her thrusts harder, chasing orgasm now. He felt it before she did, making a sharp little sound before his muscles seized. Hope moved her hand to press over his knot while he spilled against his belly, but now he was squeezing her so tight she could barely move, rippling around her length and that was enough to push her over the edge so sudden she gasped.

Scott was still in the middle of it when Hope let out a deep breath, rolled the tension out of her shoulders and loosened her fingers around his thighs. Wow.

His body was still locked around hers, but it wasn’t truly a tie. Her knot couldn’t swell out of season. But when she shifted back without thinking about it he yelped.

“Sorry, sorry Scott.” It was too soon to move like that. She wanted to kiss him, but she didn’t want to tug again. Hope traced his jaw, smoothed back damp curls of his hair.

He blinked at her, but he probably didn’t actually see her. That was fine. That’s just how this worked.

She could see when that brief, clear-headed relief after orgasm set in. Hope pulled away from his body’s grasp with a hiss, oversensitive, and flopped onto her back next to him while Scott caught his breath. She looked over at him when the backs of his fingers stroked over her arm.

“You really picture that?” she asked.

“Yeah. It’s a good picture,” he mumbled.

She didn’t get to ask him more about it because he didn’t get much of a break from the need. They’d spent too long just feeling each other before that first time. Scott rolled up on his elbows to suck along her neck, palm a breast and squeeze.

She wrapped a leg up around the back of his thigh.

Scott went still to look at her, hair such a disaster it was almost funny. “Can…Can I…?”

“Yeah. C’mere.”

Hope barely moved, letting him wrap an arm under her hips and push inside.

She was so worked up from fucking him the stretch felt good, felt normal even. Her body knew his like this. His knot had gone down from before, so at least she’d given him that much relief. Scott was not rough in bed, that just wasn’t him, but his hips were rolling into hers fast and hard from the start where he’d usually linger just a little. Heat didn’t care if you liked to take your time. Hope braced her heels on the bed and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and just let him. Her cock was still plump, but she wasn’t going to be able to come again so soon. It was kind of nice to just be lazy. She hummed against his ear.

She hadn’t realized how different a knot was going to feel outside of heat though. The extra pressure at her entrance felt good at first, but it kept swelling. Scott was using more force to keep his pace.

If she wanted to keep him from tying with her she needed to flip them now, get on top where she could ride up on her knees. She knew that. But Hope didn’t move.

It wasn’t long before he rocked back into her and her body resisted. The pressure made her squirm. Scott’s grip on her shoulders tightened.

“Please. _Please_ , I…” he said, voice ragged.

“It’s ok. Come on.”  

His hands went to her hips and gripped tight, pulled her back into the pressure. She slapped a hand over her mouth when it started to slide in, stifled the loud cry when it popped the rest of the way inside.

Hope took a shuddery breath. This really was too much outside of cycle, at least this quickly. It was just a few sharp, shallow thrusts before he came with a moan low in his chest, clinging to her. But this really did ache. Her breathing went shallow and stayed that way, arms shaking around his neck.

Scott was still coming. It was easier to feel the full-body twitches like this, on top of her with his head on her shoulder. She could almost feel the heat of it inside, though it was hard to feel anything but the stretch.

Scott breathed in sharply when he came up out of it. He immediately started kissing along her neck, his hands moving to stroke along her sides. She cringed when he moved, but somehow he rolled them so she was mostly on top without shifting inside her. It was a little easier from this angle.

“How’d you do that?”

“Mad skills,” he rasped out on his second try.

His hands stroked up and down her back while they waited. Hope kept her forehead pressed to his chest, eyes shut tight until the tie started to let up. Scott sighed quietly. Hope squirmed. The wet feeling when she moved was so odd. And maybe disgusting? She could feel her face go hot.

Scott’s lips pressed to her hair. “You wanna rinse off?”

Hope nodded.

They staggered down to the shower with his arm over her shoulders. His head might be mostly clear for the moment, but his legs were still unsteady. Hope pretended her thighs weren’t still quivering. They turned the water lukewarm, better for the lingering fever. She let the water run down her belly and legs first with a sense of relief, held her hair up to let it rinse her shoulders, ignoring Scott for the moment until she felt hands stroking her thighs.

He’d sat down in the tub rather than try and stand, all knees somehow and mostly out of the water until she turned to the side. Scott sat still and just let the water hit him full in the face, one hand still smoothing the droplets down her leg.

Something warm uncurled in her chest. She carded her fingers back through his thick hair, scritching through the wet curls. Scott rubbed his stubbly cheek against her leg and sighed, eyes half-closed.

Hope bit back a yell when he licked her.

Her cock was still flushed, too many pheromones and too much stimulation for it to really go down yet. Scott licked gently along the underside again before he took it in his mouth. It almost hurt, but Hope wanted to watch his mouth on her cock a lot more than she wanted to shove him away because it was too much and way too soon. She couldn’t possibly do that twice.

But they both felt it when she twitched and thickened a bit on his tongue. Hope groaned, deep in her chest and way too loud in the shower.

Scott sat back wide-eyed. “Can you…again?”

Something made her squeeze down on the scruff of his neck. “If you can suck me hard again you can have it.”

She felt his moan with his mouth back around her, her back against the cool tiles while she let the water roll down her chest and tried not to lock her knees. Scott sucked hard, stroking her with his tongue and nuzzling her belly with the tip of his nose, kept his lips close to her skin even while she swelled.

Hope almost didn’t want to push him back. “Come on, before I fall,” she said and turned off the water.

She flung the damp towels out over the mess of sheets before she turned Scott onto his back on them. He’d pitched forward on knees and shoulders, but she’d rather see his face. His mouth was slick and pretty hazel eyes fixed on her body. There wasn’t the time to start slow; there was no way of knowing how long her body could keep this up. Hope just slid back inside him deep.

Scott didn't make a sound, but she hissed when his nails dug into her back.

Their second time with her inside him, when his hand drifted to press over his belly she goes along with it. Whether it was cruel or fun or completely something else she wasn’t sure, but Hope knew exactly what he was thinking about this time and the words just came out of her mouth.

“You want it to catch, don’t you Scott?”

His eyes went huge. “Oh fuck Hope.”

“I know you do.”

“Hope…” he pleaded.

“You can tell me,” she teased, rocking slower than he’d like and staring into his face. His cheeks were flushed from more than the fever.

Scott swallowed, glanced away. When he tried to shift his hand off his pretty stomach she put it back. “I want…”

“Should I give you something Scott?”

He didn’t say anything this time, just nodded, a hand over his mouth and eyes fixed on her face.

“You’d really like that?” she asked, and it was a real question. She never ever would have guessed he thought about it, not when he had Cassie and when Hope was what she knew she was like.

“Yes! Yes, _fuck_ Hope…” He moaned as she thrust into him harder.

“You’d be good. I know you would,” she hummed at him under her breath. That wasn’t a question. Scott was great at parenting and she knew how much work he’d put in to learn.

“You’d be great. You’re such a gentle person,” he mumbled, hands clinging to her arms.

Hope felt the perplexed grin on her face. Scott did that to her so easily. People did not think of her as gentle. She curled up forward to kiss him. He was flexible enough she could. “I’ve made you _bleed_ Scott.”

“That’s different. That’s totally different. Put a baby in me. Holy shit Hope I’m _so close_.”

This time it wasn’t all so new. When that first throb rolled through him she curled two fingers around the base of her cock and pushed into him just a bit, just enough of a stretch to make it feel right.

His back arched up off the bed. She hadn’t felt close yet, but there was no holding out against the way he flexed around her inside. Her body knew what it was supposed to be doing, even though it was the wrong time of year. Orgasm made her vision black out around the edges.

When it let up she felt so wrung out she almost felt a little sick, clinging to his legs more to cling to something than to make sure she kept still. Scott was still lost in it.  

She pulled away carefully when Scott blinked his eyes focused and hummed, his body relaxing into the bed. She hit the bed on her stomach next to him when her arms gave out, mumbled something that probably wasn’t words when he tugged her onto her side, her head on his arm.

Hope fell asleep halfway through him kissing her.

Something woke her in the pitch dark after a little while, a shift in the bed or some little sound. He’d obviously been trying not to wake her up, both hands on his reddened cock, but it didn’t seem to be helping.

“Hey.”

He rolled his head to the side to look at her. “I never could pace this right. Always start with too much.”

Moving was a dreamy lurch. Hope had a feeling she’d rolled over one of his shins, but it felt normal somehow to brace her forearms on his thighs and suck the tip of him into her mouth.

Scott whimpered, a hand tangling into her hair but not pulling. She could swallow him if she wanted, though it was easier when she could lay down with her head over the edge of the mattress, but she just kept her mouth soft, let him rock up into the touches. When he was close she sucked her fingers wet just in case, curled two inside of him deep as she could.

It was enough. She kept her palm over him while he came and fell back asleep hugging one of his legs to her chest.

By morning he was exhausted, too sensitive for her fingers again and shaky all over, a high flush on his cheeks. They’d drunk the last of the water bottles he’d had in his room. Hope had limped down the stairs to refill a few from the bathroom tap water maybe an hour ago. The kitchen was too far.

He was damp-eyed while she rode him, a hand over his mouth while he blinked at the ceiling.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. This isn’t…”

Hope put a hand over his mouth, then let him suck at her fingers. Her other hand was between them, gently squeezing over his knot and keeping it outside her body. She was way too sore to take it again and he was too close for her to suck him anymore. It was too likely to choke her right now.

“This is why I didn’t want you doing this without me.”

She lifted off him right after he was coming, laid down on him so he was pressed into the softness of her belly while he throbbed. It was sticky wet, kind of gross, but she didn’t have the energy to care, nosing in against his collar bone, her knees and elbows resting on the bed.

He dozed off for a little bit, but not deep enough asleep to really rest. Hope was sound asleep in minutes despite herself. She was pushing the edges of what her body was willing to put up with, hungry and tired and sore. She didn’t have adrenaline demanding she keep going like he did.

Hope woke up to something similar to a sob right when he gave up on fingering himself, back to her in a miserable sort of curl.

It was some instinct or maybe some half-remembered image she’d seen that made her roll him onto his belly and pull his hips up into her lap, fasten her mouth over where he was flushed almost red and still open and so slick for her and _suck_.

Scott screamed.

This wasn’t the quick, loud cries she’d gotten from him a few times throughout this. This was an actual scream, barely muffled by the corner of a pillow. He screamed again when she laved her tongue over him, sucked wet kisses against his skin, but not like that first one. She licked gently before she slid her tongue inside, same way he always did for her.

It didn’t take long before his breathing went ragged, before his body forced him into coming again even though there was nothing to really clamp around and nothing touching his cock, just her hands on his back and sturdy thighs. The heat mostly broke after; she could tell even if Scott was a little too out of it. He dozed off clinging to one of her hands.

When he woke her up it was by rolling over to dig through his little dresser for lotion. She was half asleep, but still she could smell he wasn’t as slick. His skin wasn't so hot. She stayed pressed along his back while one of her hands stroked him gently as she could, his fingers tight around himself and the heel of his other hand between his teeth. Orgasm lasted a normal time and he was asleep in moments.

The sun had gotten brighter outside the window. Hope hid her face against his sweaty back and passed out.

*

Everything was always a little hazy waking up after it first broke. It didn’t surprise him anymore.

Scott woke up without the heat that afternoon, just under two days, so at least _that_ was still typical. His hip joints ached a little. The sheets felt a bit like sandpaper on his dick, but he was too tired to move.

There were fingers in his hair. _Hope_.

“Hey,” he rasped.

“Hey.” She shifted closer along his side clumsily, hid her face against his shoulder from the sun coming through his curtains.

Scott put his nose in her tangled hair. He couldn’t smell her now in the same way as he could during heat, the layers of it were all blunted again, but it was still amazing to just breathe her in.

His room just reeked like sex. He _really_ needed to air out the house.

“Did you have a good time?” Hope asked sleepily.

“Did I…”

What kind of a ridiculous question was that? She’d basically tied him _twice_ without even being in season. He’d sucked her cock in the shower. He’d had her fingers inside him for the first time. She’d let him tie with her even though out of cycle it’d had to hurt some. It was ridiculous, and amazing, and he was _so_ grateful.

Scott flushed suddenly, remembering she might have had her _tongue_ inside him too.

Oh man, she’d definitely tongue-fucked him. No one had ever done that for him in his _life_. He never would have even thought to _ask_.

He also remembered her kissing his skin while he was still half-paralyzed while coming, smiling while she nuzzled his face, steadying his hands so he could drink out of the cup it was really her holding for him.

It was hard to move. He felt like gi-ant-man again, hands too heavy and too far away, but it was critical to get his arms around her, pull her to his chest and kiss her face.

“ _Thank you_.”

Hope smiled with her eyes closed. “Mmm. You were so sweet about it all.”

Scott cradled her face against his palm, kissed that little smile. “Thank you. _Thank you_.” It was the kind of moment where his chest ached because he loved her so much.

He went still again after, their heads together on the same messy pillow. The house was quiet. He should make them some coffee. Maybe they could shower off again. He needed to load the washing machine and change the sheets, especially if Hope stayed a little longer.

Scott didn’t move. He was too wrung out and this was too nice.

“Were you serious though? Because I’ve never, ever thought about it before. Ever. We’d need to… I’d need to think about that Scott.”

He’d managed to get his arm around her shoulders, and the little rough lines told him he’d clawed her with his nails at some point. _Shit_. “Was I serious about what?”

The backs of her fingers rubbed over his stomach and every bit of ridiculous, over-share, begging he’d done came back in a rush like getting sucked down a drain.

“Oh no.”

“Hm?”

It was enough of a burst of horrified energy he tried to roll away, but Hope was limp and heavy and clinging to him. Scott settled for squeezing his eyes shut. This wasn’t happening.

“Scott?”

“I expected to be obnoxiously noisy and needy. I didn’t think I’d lose it and beg you to _knock me up_ the whole time.”

“Not the _whole_ time.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Was, was it a secret?”

Only secret he’d ever kept from her had been Germany. They tried not to do secrets.

“No Hope, it wasn’t that… I’d have told you if it came up. That I’d always thought I would… I just never planned on dumping it in your lap like that.”

“Ok.”

Scott tried not to cling to her like her was scared he’d ruined this again, but he was totally scared he’d somehow just ruined this again. Watching Hope get to know Cassie these last few months had been beautiful, but it had obviously reopened some regrets more than he’d realized.

Hope sighed. “I’m not saying yes right now Scott, but I’m not saying no either.”

He pretended his heart didn’t jump in his chest, tried to have a rational thought here. “Hope, I’m over 40. It was just…”

She scoffed. “It obviously wasn’t just the heat. And no offense, but you _really_ obviously aren’t past that season. And _I’m_ not over 40 yet, thanks.”

Hope pressed closer to his chest, tried to shift her hips on the bed without moving her thighs. She had to be sore. He shuddered remembering the stifled wail when he’d pressed his knot inside her.

Scott kissed the crown of her head. “I love you.” She was close enough to sleep to pretend he hadn’t said it if she wanted, but he need to say it right now. That she’d even said she’d think about it, that she was even here right now after everything… He loved her so much.

“Love you too,” she mumbled, curling an arm tight around his waist.

 _Oh_.

She’d never said it back before. Not once, and he knew all the reasons why those words were hard for her and hadn’t resented it. Scott had just, thought maybe he’d never hear her say it at all.

But his eyes were only wet because he was tired. That was it.

They could afford to nap for an hour or so. Scott closed his eyes and tried not to daydream to much about Hope’s arm not quite being able to fit around his waist anymore, about a little brother or sister for Cassie with Hope’s eyes.

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you read this whole, messy marathon that came straight out of Scott's Id I hope you enjoyed the ride. This fic was way out of my personal comfort zone, but it really wanted to be written. Feel free to let me know about any typos or confusing sentences.
> 
> Rant follows:  
> I still remember when a/b/o was a pretty new concept and there weren't tags assuming everyone was going to write it the same way. Obviously I don't care for that whole assumption. >_>
> 
> I write betas as a blend of alphas and omegas, with alphas and omegas being the extremes and betas the mushy middle. This gives us six distinctive identities. The a/b/o alignment kicks in in people's teens. Omegas can only carry. Alphas can only impregnate. Betas can do both. People cannot conceive except during heat. The body of course starts prepping for heat in advance. Omegas have more frequent and longer heats than betas, making them much more fertile. Omegas would be the smallest alignment in the population. Most beta males can carry just as easily as females. Body type becomes the main issue with all that. There is a social stigma here that in M/F beta couples the female is the one who usually carries, whether that's based in any statistical reality or not.
> 
> I think that sums up most of what I was trying to imply through Hope and Scott's thoughts without wading into big blocks of exposition. I don't wade into any more ambiguous identities here. I've seen that explored in other fics over the years and it's always fascinating, but I've never worked through it for my a/b/o fics. 
> 
> Thanks for reading -M


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